Time Wish and Reverse Time Wish have just been Occupying my skull for a solid month now and I was rereading both trying to put together some marinating feelings I had on why TW!Billford and RTW!Billford felt like they had kind of different vibes, with RTW!Billford just seeming so much more... Manic And Volatile, I guess. And here are my thoughts and analysis in conclusion:
Biggest and probably most important difference. Time Wish!Bill has a job and needs to make rent. Reverse Time Wish!Bill... does not. XD TW!Bill has a very shitty job and shitty life, but he DOES have a life and his parents, flawed as they are, are more openly affectionate. RTW!Bill is capable of just being a hermit in his house all day with his audio books and his tea.
Reverse Time Wish!Bill, being of a higher class with more pride and having been able to pursue higher education, was for most of the time less scared of Ford and more scared of being insane--once Ford was established as having existed, he was immediately willing to accept, or was at least EXTREMELY hopeful, that Up also existed and the scientist in him activated. Time Wish!Bill, in contrast, again, has a job. He never got to pursue higher education and his belief in up got beaten out of him more thoroughly. As such, this plus the class difference led to TW!Bill being intimidated and scared by his Ford at first, so TW!Ford had to spend a longer period of time with his Bill and spent more of that time trying to bring back Bill's memories, which led to him reminiscing on the fond memories and rekindling a sexual relationship with Bill, which led to his feelings of revenge giving way to old feelings of love and friendship. RTW!Ford, meanwhile, has kinda had a lot of very extreme, intense, charged moments with his Bill but not a lot of downtime so he kinda went from VENGEANCE VENGEANCE VENGEANCE to a full 180 of GET HIM THE FUCK OUT OF THERE HE'S MINE with basically no time to reflect on and process his feelings of love, protectiveness, and how different THIS Bill really is from the one he used to know. RTW!Bill has yelled at him about this, but has RTW!Ford really PROCESSED it in the way TW!Ford has? I don't think so.
All this combined leads into RTW DOESN'T JUST REVERSE THE TIME WISH CLASS SYSTEM, OH NO, IT FULLY REVERSES BILL AND FORD'S ORIGINAL DYNAMIC. Not only is Ford the knowledgeable, possessive, powerful one with a god complex! Bill is a reclusive hermit of a scientist who studies things considered to be conspiracy theories, with a strained relationship with his family after screwing up his chances for a degree from a very prestigious university!! Except Ford's goal is purely focused on Bill and either killing or rescuing him, which he has always been 100% honest and upfront about, not the fate of the entire world right now, and Bill's basically given up on proving his thesis after past events and Scalene making it CLEAR she disapproves, plus how instead of 'help us make it out of New Jersey' his parents want him to 'keep quiet so your father can become president' so like. Bill is more down to just leave with Ford, even if he has some regrets, as opposed to Ford being betrayed and wanting to kill Bill.
ALL THAT TO SAY!! TW!Billford, despite the arguably even greater power dynamic gap, somehow felt healthier than RTW!Billford and I wanted to figure out why and these are my conclusions. RTW somehow ALMOST FULLY flipped that pre-portal Billford dynamic and like, Ford hinted at that with saying upfront he would be a better god than Bill ever was, but there's also stuff like Bill having a science background and being able to get all these answers about the universe more easily from Ford, or how Ford just disappeared for months leaving Bill desperate for his presence. Auuuuuuuuuuuugh!!
Tagging @snewts because holy shit this ask is a FEAST of good analysis!! I can't express how much I enjoyed reading (And rereading) this beast.
You 100% hit the nail on the head about RTW!Billford being... less healthy than its counterpart. They just haven't spent that much time with each other and just - experiencing each other's company without anything extreme happening.
RTW!Ford straight up forgot/dismissed the fact that his Bill had this - whole ass family he cared about and was basically deciding for him that they were going to leave. Sure- Bill agreed to it - but it wasn't a conversation beforehand.
And RTW!Bill is doing exactly what pre-portal Ford did - and is placing this 'god' on this mental pedestal. But he doesn't truly know Ford. They haven't... gotten to where they can truly see each other as actual, grounded equals. But- I'm sure none of that will backfire.
